Saturday, July 19, 2008

Create a symbolic link

First go to the directory where you want the link. Then use the following command:
sudo ln -s /path/to/file nameoflink
Note: "nameoflink" is whatever you want to call your link.

Friday, July 18, 2008

How to convert VOC files (and how to run a C program)

Update: There is a new website by Aria Stewart based on Dave Coffin's program to convert RCA-VOC files. Here is the link.

I have an RCA voice recorder and wanted to convert the VOC (specifically RCA-VOC) files to something I could use. I found the perfect program on Dave Coffin's page.
1. First install "sox" using synaptic.
2. Then, simply download Dave Coffin's free C program called "devoc.c."
3. You then have to make the devoc program into something you can use. Do this by running the following command:
gcc /path/to/devoc.c
This will spit out a file called "a.out" to the same directory where devoc.c is located.
4. Rename "a.out" to something else, such as "devoc" (no file extension is needed)
5. To run devoc from where it is, change to that directory in terminal and type ./devoc with an option. However, to make running devoc a little easier, move the new devoc file to /usr/bin by typing the following into the terminal:
sudo mv /current/path/to/devoc /usr/bin
6. Now to run devoc, simply open a terminal and type devoc with an option
7. To see a list of options, type the following into the terminal:
devoc
8. Finally, run the program with the option you desire, for example, to convert a VOC file to a WAV, type the following:
devoc -w /path/to/file.voc
This will convert the file and put the new WAV file in the same directory as the VOC file. I like soundconverter (available in synaptic) to then convert the WAV file to an MP3.

Sources: Dave Coffin AND Computing.net
Webpage Converter
Windows Conversion Program link

Sunday, July 06, 2008

The Command Line Way to Remove a Package's Unused Dependencies

When removing a package, if you want to also remove the unused dependencies associated with it, type the following:
sudo apt-get autoremove packagename


To also remove any configuration files with the dependencies, type:
sudo apt-get --purge autoremove packagename